Last night, Elizabeth, Roy, and I enjoyed one last fling, Chiang Mai’s Night Market

As far as I can tell, they’ve reached their next port of call. Missing them already, but the adventures continue.

It’s Sunday, so I returned to SEVEN FOUNTAINS this morning, and a Feast of the Holy Family homily which I think only a Jesuit could give. He spoke of how M,J,&J — and other Jews — continued to make this trip to Jerusalem because they continued to believe in freedom, even when they weren’t experiencing it themselves, at least not at that moment (those pesky Romans). It was not much of a leap from there to the Finding in the Temple, and then (in northern Thailand, where we are) from the Finding in the Temple to the situation (& incidents) in nearby Myanmar.

So, no photos , but a great time during and after Mass. But I digress.

To get to the retreat center, I’d chosen a Red Truck driver who became lost; then there was about a mile of bumper-to-bumper traffic on Huai Kaeo Rd. Consequently, I arrived at a packed Mass as the homily was starting. I flashed my cane, and a young man in the last row – the one with cushioned chairs – literally leapt up to give me his seat. After the homily, when the woman next to me stood up to sing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” I stood up, too, so she shared her hymnal. It was somewhere in the 5th or 6th verse, and the line “…and ever over Babel sounds,” that I smiled to myself, looked around… and realized I’d landed in the choir .

Oh, well. It was a fine seat, as I say, so I stood up and joined in for the rest of the songs, too – all Christmas Carols, all wonderful to sing. After the Recessional – a belted-out rendition of “Go, Tell It on the Mountain,” my beautiful Thai hymnal owner leaned over to ask if I’d be there with them next week…. I said no, but I’d be back for the month of February, and she smiled: relieved she’d have a month to prepare the rest of the choir? I wasn’t quite sure.
Afterwards, in the guesthouse at Seven Fointains, I met with a lovely Jesuit who assures me that my notion (Rosellen’s advice, really –) of reading the book by — every left wing Catholic’s second favorite Jesuit author — James Martin, on the Spiritual Exercises, is a good way to prepare for a short retreat @ 7 Fountains, and then a February blitz on (in?) the Exercises. Well, we’ll see.
I ended the morning and began the afternoon @ the Orange Mac Cafe, a place which, even while missing from this Chiang Mai coffee shop list, has the best iced coffee in Chiang Mai. IMHO.

Two days before Christmas, Supon’s bamboo papermaking showroom and workshopare the launching pad for Elizabeth: a year’s worth of art. Roy and I looked on as Soupon packed her order and discussed mulberry-bamboo percentages, fiber-length…

Despite posted restrictions, we had a fine Christmas Eve, Riverside. Christmas Morning, we tried for the Lampang-Chiang Mai bus.

…ended up in a taxi (no complaints).

Then Roy took charge of the Christmas meal, which was a Progressive Dinner . Yes, you read that right ( parked riverside).

Even if you’re not a Foodie, I think these plates – I didn’t bother to snap E’s salmon or my curry – give a sense of the next place he chose.

We ended our Christmas at Anantara. The former British Consulate (it was Roy’s evening, after all), now a sprawling luxury hotel, is a hoot: rich teak everywhere, and deep green walls in the bar — Japanese minimalist in other parts — and attentive, early-20th c. -uniformed wait staff. Poor photos because I was trying to be subtle.

I gave up all pretense of subtlety for this video —

…and to all, a goodnight!

And now it’s Boxing Day, with my Chiang Mai neighborhood (“mine” for another week) and its uber-tattooed western 65-year-old men on their Vespas. My guesthouse is across from one temple and w/in a couple blocks of others, lovely and cool spaces…and look who showed up in a Sri Lankan RC church!!

In Trivandrum, I had the honor of 94% humidity, yes, and a very budget guesthouse, true. However, I also had the honest-to-God huge and absolutely unadulterated honor of meeting and working for too short a time with the indomitable, young (28!) founder of Jyothirgamaya, a nonprofit which empowers low-vision and blind people…Vision Loss Resources, Indian style!

Tiffany is a machine — amazing to see her on the phone working on fundraising one minute, teaching a mobility or Voiceover lesson, the next.

Tiffany moves fast and deftly, in the classroom and in the street (SO fast, I’ve no “outdoor” photos of her!).Vinitha prepares incredible Kerala food every day at the hostel near the Center – and huge hugs for Tiffany.

While I was there, one of the young women at the Jyothirgamaya Center got a job, packed up her belongings in the hostel, and headed out —

That was the Sister of Charity when I called to see if I could go out again to volunteer for awhile the orphanage. If you ask me some day, I’ll tell you about the nuns, children, and workers I met at Jeevan Jyoti, but no photos of any of them (impossible, really, at so many levels)

GETTING THERE: The hotel doorman hailed a tuk-tuk this time, and after clattering around and through colonial Connaught Place for 10 minutes, my driver pulled over, hopped out, and brought in a man who looked old enough to be his father, saying, “My cousin Ma’m. Same price.” I never saw that driver again.

Anyhow, I did what I often do here: morphed into Queen Victoria, who in another context is [probably inaccurately] credited with saying, I closed eyes and thought of England.

Driver #2 asking directions

This fruit and vegetable seller was our 2nd stop for directions; the 3rd was a car labeled “Tourist Police,” and the 4th occurred after I noticed that the sign reading “Mother Teresa’s” (where we’d turned RIGHT ) had had an arrow pointing LEFT.

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Once back in Connaught Place, and anxious to put off packing, I walked again through some of CP, eventually stopping for dinner at United Coffee House (great chandeliers).